Coca-Cola in talks with bankers to sell Costa Coffee Brand: Report

The US beverage giant, Coca-Cola Co., is in talks with a global investment bank named Lazard to review its options in order to sell the British coffee chain, Costa Coffee, reports the Reuters news agency on Sunday, August 24, 2025, citing people who are aware of the development. The US beverage manufacturer has reportedly discussed with a small number of potential bidders for the Costa sales. This list of bidders includes private equity firms, reports the news agency with reference to earlier reports. According to a Sky News report, Coca-Cola will receive the indicative offers for the Costa coffee sale early in the fall, but the report also mentions that the sale is not definite. However, Coca-Cola did not respond to the inquiries that the news agency sent, similar to Costa and Lazard, according to the agency report. Coca-Cola shares on the New York Scholarship (NYSE) closed 0.75% lower at $ 70.13 after Friday’s Wall Street session. However, the shares achieved 0.10% in the after-hours trading session of the US markets. According to MarketWatch data, Coca-Cola’s market cap (M-CAP) stood at $ 301.82 billion on Friday. When did Coca-Cola buy Costa? In 2018, Coca-Cola Costa Coffee acquired for more than $ 5 billion, as the company’s goal was to strengthen its position in the global coffee market giving competitions to industry operators such as Starbucks and Nestle. Costa Coffee is a British multinational coffee chain that works in 50 countries. The company was started more than 50 years ago by two brothers who have now turned itself into a world name, and the company emphasizes its official website. According to the agency report, Coca-Cola’s sale of Costa Coffee will contribute the offers in the packaged food market, which saw the growth as the firms intend to scale to defend the impact of price inflation and buy consumers for healthier options. “Our investment in Costa is not where we wanted it to be from a point of view of investment hypothesis,” said James Quincey, CEO of Coca-Cola, in the company’s earnings call, cited in the news release. “We are in the way to think about what we have learned, and reflect on how we want to find new ways to grow in the coffee category while successfully running the Costa business,” Quincey said.